Mark's School
by UnknownVBS
Summary: Five years before Ender was born there was a kid named Mark. This is his story. Oh yeah, I suck with titles.
1. Prolog

I do not own in characters in this story (so far) except for Mark, his family, Jack, and the people I only reference. All the other characters are owned by OSC or people from VBS. I don't own Ender's Game either.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------  
  
Mark was six when it happened. He could always remember the sound of a car driving up, the noise of the swerving tires, his sister yelling at him to get inside. When he didn't his sister ran out to get him. Then Mark saw what was in the hand of one of the people in the car. He was running for the door when he heard the sound, he explosion from a gun. He could remember his sister's scream as she fell. The frantic call his mom made as she yelled into the phone. Mark remembered his sister's last words more then anything else that day.  
  
"Don't let my death be in vain. Go to Battle School, kill some buggers and save the world for me. I love you, and always have." Then she never said another word.  
  
Later on he learned what had happened. Some gang members had been drinking and hijacked a car and decided to go on a little joy ride, killing people for the fun of it. In the end they crashed, two of the three people in the car died, the other one was injured and lost an arm. In the end, six people were dead; the youngest one was Mark's sister at eight years old.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------  
  
If you review this story, support what you say. Don't just say "great story," say what is great, be it the writing, the plot, whatever.  
  
Oh, and Crazythorn, please don't tell anyone, don't tell anyone. 


	2. Shuttle

Mark thought about his sister's last words as he sat in the shuttle waiting for launch. He had done part of what she wanted; he had got to Battle School. He had been sitting inside watching T.V. one day when the IF man came to the door. He asked for Mark to come, and he said his goodbyes to his mom and dad and left. After awhile, he had ended up here with all the other kids going to Battle School. Now he sat back and looked around. There was one girl on the shuttle; she looked of Native American origins. Her hair was black with streaks of silver and she seemed short. She was in front of Mark by two seats so he couldn't tell much else from her. Next to her was a boy talking about how hungry he was. After a bit of the boys talking the girl just looked at him and said:  
  
"Please stop talking." She said this with a nice, calm voice. It seemed sweet, yet underneath the sweetness Mark thought he could detect hatred, anger, and violence. The boy stopped talking immediately and looked away from the girl. He looks like he's afraid of her Mark thought.  
  
After a few minutes a man walked into the shuttle. He looked at all the kids sitting for a second then started talking. "My name is Raymond Young. Most people just call me Young. Don't make any jokes about it. I'll be your mom when you we get up to Battle School." Some kids laughed, Mark didn't. "I'll talk to you more when we get there, now, is everyone buckled in?" Young asked as he walked past each of the chairs, checking who had figured out how to buckle themselves in. Mark noticed that Young was taking notes on who had figured out how to buckle themselves in. This was the first test. Mark and the girl passed, along with only about five other kids. Then Young walked away.  
  
The shuttle suddenly started to shake as if it were about to blow up. For a second Mark thought this would be the first failed launch since the days of early shuttle flight, but he soon felt the thrust upward that told them they were flying. He looked at the wall expecting to see a window, but soon realized that it was just a metal wall. Mark looked around and saw only metal. There were no windows at all.  
  
"I hope there are some windows up in Battle School." Mark said accidentally. He had just meant to think it.  
  
"Yeah, me too. This will suck if there aren't." The person next to Mark replied. Before Mark could respond he felt a last push of the rockets, and then, nothing. There was no push of the ship. His arm weighed nothing. He could see the girl's hair float up slowly and shimmer slightly. Next to him, the person was gagging. Mark almost started to, but then orientated himself.  
  
"It helps if you think of your legs as down." Mark told the person next to him. Then, the person next to him closed his eyes for a second and when he opened them he wasn't gagging anymore.  
  
"Thanks. My name's Jack by the way. What's yours?"  
  
"I'm Mark." Mark looked forward and saw the person next to the girl start gagging. Then the girl unbuckled her seat and gracefully flipped over it onto the seat behind her. Now she was sitting right in front of Mark. She turned around and looked at them.  
  
"My name's Sway." She said in a fairly cheerful tone. Her bangs covered most of her forehead and she had high cheekbones. What Mark noticed most though was her eyes. They were a beautiful hazel color, but they seemed to burn with rage and untold amounts of anger. If not for her eyes Mark would have thought her a good person and someone whom he could be a friend with. But her eyes seemed to be a warning to stay back and avoid her.  
  
"Hey," Jack said. "Just wondering, how are you so good in null-G? I'm strapped in and I'm feeling queasy, yet you can do back flips easily."  
  
"I guess it's just a knack I have, why don't you try? A front flip would probably easier," she said, then she reached back and unbuckled Jack's seat. Jack grabbed the seat in front of him and was about to flip when Sway grabbed his arm. "Don't worry, I'll make sure you don't get hurt."  
  
Jack started to flip, then when he was half way over the seat Sway pulled hard and sent him hurling threw the shuttle. He hit the back wall and bounced off. After a bit more bouncing around the room he finally hit a wall and was able to grab onto something. Mark could see him groaning in pain. It didn't look like anything was broken, but he did seem to be in pain. Then Young came up and looked at Jack hanging onto one of the walls.  
  
"Solider," Young began, "why are you out of your seat?"  
  
Jack groaned for a second and before he could say anything Sway spoke up in an innocent voice as if she was the victim. "He was trying to impress me by flipping over the seat, but he failed and even though I tried to hold onto him he went flying."  
  
"Is this true?" Young asked.  
  
Again, Jack groaned and this time Mark answered for him. "Sway's lying. She flipped over her seat and encouraged Jack to try it, then when he was flipping he threw her."  
  
Sway looked disgusted and responded in her innocent voice. "Why are you making up lies about me? This is my first time in null-G, how could I be able to do a back flip? Or what would I gain from hurting a poor innocent boy?"  
  
"I don't know why you did it." Mark said, "All I know is that you did."  
  
This time Jack responded. "Mark, stop making up lies about her. What she said is the truth. I did it to impress her and then I went out of control and she tried to help me but couldn't."  
  
"Jack," Young said, "Get back to your seat now." Then he turned and left.  
  
At first Jack couldn't figure out how to move in null-G, then he slowly moved by holding onto the wall and using it to move him, when he got over to his old seat next to Mark he looked at him and said "I don't want to sit next to a filthy liar like you," and continued forward one seat, where he sat next to Sway. Mark could hear her say stuff like "are you okay?" and "that was pretty impressive, but are you hurt." And Mark could hear Jack's responses. He seemed to like this girl who had just thrown him against a wall. It was sickening how Sway was able to convince Jack what she said was true, and she was able to do it so easily. Mark sat alone the rest of the flight and felt sick, but because of the null-G.  
  
Finally he saw Young come in again. "We're finally here. We just reached Battle School. Please follow me to the exit of the shuttle." 


End file.
